


Seeking Refuge

by thatapostateboy



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-07
Updated: 2014-05-07
Packaged: 2018-01-23 22:50:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1582253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatapostateboy/pseuds/thatapostateboy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The night after Bethany gets taken to the Circle, Hawke gets into a heated argument with her uncle and finds herself in need of a friend</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seeking Refuge

Hawke wasn’t sure what made her head for Darktown that night. She’d swiftly left home after a full on screaming match with Gamlen. She’d blamed him for letting Bethany be taken. She wasn’t sure if it was entirely his fault, but he certainly didn’t seem to be at all sorry for it. Mother had been crying in the other room, but Hawke couldn’t let it drop. It was her uncle’s fault that everything bad had happened since they got to Kirkwall. Without him, they would have had the estate, she never would have lost that year in the Red Iron and Bethany would have been safe in such a noble position. Gamlen, of course, had called her ungrateful for the food and shelter he’d provided over the last year, for getting her the Red Iron job.

He’d started to kick her out, but she was already out the door. She hadn’t thought about where she was headed, she’d just started walking and didn’t look back. She knew how to keep to the shadows and avoid the thugs, and before she knew it, she found herself stood in the glow of the lantern outside Anders’ clinic.

She let out a sigh and walked inside. The door was open, as always, but this late at night; the room was quiet, and wasn’t bustling with patients like usual. Anders was sat at his desk, sorting through letters and paperwork from his weeks away. He went for his staff when he heard the creak of the door, but as soon as he saw it was Hawke, he visibly relaxed.

“Hawke,” he said, getting to his feet, “I… I heard about Bethany, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You weren’t the one that took her,” she said quietly, standing awkwardly in the doorway.

“Come in and shut the door,” he insisted, “It gets blighted cold out there at night.”

She closed the door behind herself and slowly walked further into the room. She took a seat on the edge of one of the beds, and he sat beside her.

“What can I help you with?” he asked, “Not monthly pains, I hope. I haven’t got the right potions for that.”

She smiled weakly at his attempt to cheer her up, but then she sighed, “Gamlen kicked me out… Would it be okay if I stayed here? It would only be for tonight… I just… I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

That was a lie and they both knew it. The Hanged Man was just around the corner from Gamlen’s house and even if she couldn’t afford a room, Varric would definitely help her out. Failing that, Merrill was only in the Alienage. Fenris had that big mansion in Hightown. She could have stayed there and he likely never would have known. And yet, here she was, with him, in his cold little clinic in Darktown.

He put an arm around her, giving her a supportive squeeze, “You can stay here as long as you need to, Hawke.”

She leaned her head on his shoulder, “Thank you… I owe you one.”

“You owe me nothing,” he told her, “It’s what best friends do, right? Help each other?”

She nodded, then smiled at him, “So we’re _best_ friends now, are we?”

“Considering what we went through together in the Deep Roads, and everything before that, yep, I would call us best friends,” he said, getting up and heading to the fire. He made her some tea from the kettle over the flames, and she accepted the hot drink gladly, starting to realise what he meant about the blighted cold. She took a sip and let out a low hum. He took a drink of his own, “It should help you sleep. You’ll need it, I expect, my bed isn’t exactly the comfiest.”

She choked on her mouthful of tea, “Your bed?”

“Oh Maker… don’t get the wrong impression… You’d be alone in it, of course,” he said quickly.

“I can’t take your bed from you. I’m the one that just turned up on your doorstep,” she pointed out.

“I insist,” he told her, “You’re my guest, Hawke, not some stray I found.”

They stayed up long into the night together, drinking their way through Anders’ tea supply, stretched out on two of the clinic’s cots, talking. For a while, she opened up to him about Bethany, and the fight with Gamlen, and he assured her that things would get better once the money from the expedition came through, but the conversation soon turned to other things and he started to tell her about his days as a Grey Warden.

When she eventually fell asleep, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her into the back room where he gently tucked her into bed. He put his blanket over her, but decided that it wasn’t enough and lightly draped his coat over her as well. He waited for a moment to make sure that she was sleeping soundly, then left her in peace.

***

Hawke awoke warm and surprisingly comfortable in Anders’ bed. It took her a moment or two to realise where she was. She was still used to waking up in the dark tunnels of the Deep Roads, so the morning sunshine filtering in through the window of the clinic threw her a little. She stretched, rubbing her eyes. She hadn’t slept this well in far too long. She sat up and smiled a little when she realised that she’d been asleep with Anders’ coat wrapped around her. She pulled it onto herself properly and got to her feet. Leaving her boots behind, she padded quietly into the clinic.

Anders was already awake and was mixing a potion at one of the cluttered workbenches. She watched him for a while, mesmerised by how deftly his hands were moving over all of the bottles and jars, knowing exactly what was needed without wasting time thinking about it.

He turned around to get some vials, but stopped dead when he saw her as though he’d forgotten she was even here.

“Did… Did you sleep well?” he asked.

She nodded, “Very, thank you… For everything, I mean… I just… I needed a friend last night.”

“It’s okay,” he told her, “I’m always here if you need me. Whether you need somewhere to stay, or you just need tea, you know where I am… Just don’t forget about me when the expedition money comes through and you can buy back your big fancy mansion in Hightown.”

“You know I would never forget about you.”

There was a pause, a moment of tension, and if either of them was going to say anything that would make what she just said mean something, then this was it. But the moment passed as soon as Hawke awkwardly looked at the floor.

“I should be getting back before Gamlen decides I’m not coming back and starts selling my stuff,” she said, offering Anders a joking smile.

He nodded slightly, laughing softly, “Quite right.”

She retrieved her boots and sat on one of the cots in the clinic to pull them on. She removed his coat and handed it back to him. She went up on her tiptoes a little and kissed his cheek gently.

“Thank you,” she smiled.

“Not a problem,” he told her, “Let me know if Gamlen gives you any trouble.”

“I will,” she said, then turned on her heel, walking out of the clinic. 


End file.
